Question for all mods here

[Twisteramps]

It's ok guys, this deals with issues I'm having on another message board. Just wondering how you would deal with it, and just trying a give myself a reality check.

I got ripped off on another forum that I won't name here. To make the story a little less complicated, the admin was asked for IP info on the scammer's posts very early on, and I asked again recently when I found paypal was going to hose me on the deal. Now the admin came back and said the info is now no longer on the servers, so it was unavailable.

Would you, as admins, release IP info if someone was ripped off on this board? I'm NOT trying to open a can of worms, just trying to see the big picture and to be honest the more I talk to them about it the more adversarial it becomes on both sides. I'm just wondering if I'm being a jerk for thinking that in the case of a crime being committed, that the IP info should be released. Would you as admins be breaking any laws or such by giving out IP information? Is there something I don't know about that is some board owner/administrator code or such?

Pete

[kelly user]

you didn't get any personal info on the dude, you can call the cops of his home town, and things will start rolling.

[xenophobe]

His IP should be in the header of any email communications he sent to you.

No, the mods can freely publish IP addies if they so choose.

[toejam]

I can see the IP address and host name under everybody's screen name here right now. I don't see why the other board wouldn't be able to.

[Twisteramps]

All communications with the guy was through PMs. He claimed his account was hijacked, and that the perp/scammer posted from a cyber cafe. What I was trying to get from that admin was the IP address from that specific post so I could find out if it really did originate from the cafe, or if the IPs were different when the scammer would post.

[Inearthed]

Depends on the software the board is running, on the board I admin we have phpBB and the IP info is saved on every single post. When you're a mod / admin, there are two little links on each post (basically next to the quote, edit, etc buttons), one for deleting the post, one for viewing the IP of the user for the post (when you click that link it also shows any other accounts using the same IP, and other IPs the user posted from).

Admin / mod should be able to get that IP information, unless he doesn't know how to really use the message board (aka, he's an idiot) or he's playing dumb.

[Twisteramps]

Well, this is at the bottom of the first page...

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Is there any reason why the IP address info would 'die' even though the scammer's posts still show up? I was told that the IP addresses were unavailable... is the admin telling me a tale, or it is possible?

[NextInLine]

Well, this is at the bottom of the first page...

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Is there any reason why the IP address info would 'die' even though the scammer's posts still show up? I was told that the IP addresses were unavailable... is the admin telling me a tale, or it is possible?

From what I know the whole post is kept on the server as a whole "structure" with parts like "user id - message text - IP info etc.."

So, for the IP info to get lost all the message should get lost. There's no reason for that one specific part of the post to get lost

[SEEGERMANY]

"I was told that the IP addresses were unavailable... is the admin telling me a tale, or it is possible?"

Unless there has been a drastic change in their software, the info is available.

[shobet]

Yep, last time I set up a phpbb you could gain access to all the information you need, it's on by default iirc.

He/she should have access to the following information.
The IP address of each post; a list of usersnames that have logged in through that IP and any other IP numbers the user has posted from.

Good luck with it, I'm sure there are plenty of IT savvy people on here who can back you up if he gives you any more BS.

[~K~]

Pete the only way the IP would die is if it was dynamic and not static which tends to be most IP's now. It would still fall within a given range and you could look up the provider.

The bottom line would be if you were ripped off here my guess is we would provide the IP for you

[Twisteramps]

Kev, everyone else...I figured as much... thanks guys. I was never aware of any legal issues regarding giving out IP information either, but was given horror stories of potential litigation arising from giving out that IP information.

There is a little more to the story regarding my dealings on that board, but I think I'll just be quiet a bit and see if the flames die down. It's pretty funny though, I'm taking more heat for questioning/being rude to an admin on the board than the guy who stole my fucking money.

Pete

[Sandman0170]

Most of these boards will also give you a list of ip's used by a user and would be pretty easy to see if it was hijacked by seeing an ip from a different location.

[rjohnstone]

To the best of my knowledge, there is nothing illegal about giving out IP addresses.
It's public information.
Some message boards actually make the IP address of the poster viewable for all to see.
There's a copyright/patent/trademark forum I'm on that has the IP address of the poster boldly displayed at the bottom of every post. And that site is full of attorneys.

[Newc]

As I understand it, unless the TOS specifically states that IP info can be given out by the Admins for "any reason", they would be legally (financially) liable for giving out that info.

Kinda like the guy in the RV that set the cruise control and got up to make a sammich - they didn't specifically state he couldn't do that.

Go here and file a complaint on the guy:

http://www.ic3.gov/